Personality Studies and Assessment

The Marshmallow Experiment

How does this experiment relate to personality?

What does personality have to do with a person’s success?

The Big 5Read and VERBALLY summarize the five-

factor model of personality on pgs. 577-580 by answering the following questions. 1. How do we know this model is accurate in

describing personality traits? 2. What are the different kinds of personality

(focus on key words within each category)? 3. Self-select your personality type. Why did you

choose the personality that you did? You may choose a primary type and a secondary type.

You have 15 minutes to complete this VERBAL task. No more than 3 to a group!

Defining Personality:Consistency and Distinctiveness

Personality Traits◦Dispositions and dimensions

The Five-Factor Model ◦Extraversion◦Neuroticism◦Openness to experience◦Agreeableness◦Conscientiousness

Which of these categories connect to traits of the “successful” children that you saw in the Marshmallow Experiment videos? Be sure to explain your conclusions.

(Spiral) Famous Studies on Personality

Answer the questions below for each study#24: Are You the Master of Your Fate? #25: Racing Against Your Heart #26: The One; The Many

1. How do you think this experiment relates to the study of personality? Use the labels from the Five Factor Model to help explain your thoughts.

2. How was this experiment set up?3. What do the results of this experiment indicate

about personality?4. What have your personal experiences been with

the concepts portrayed in this study?

(Spiral) Personality Perspectives Cover each personality perspective by (a)reading about

it in your book and (b)writing a thorough description of it including the important bolded and otherwise important words associated with it.

#1 Psychodynamic beginning pg. 557◦ Freud, personality structure, psychosexual stages, and defense

mechanisms◦ The contributions of the Neofreudians (Adler, Horney, Jung)

#2 Humanistic beginning pg. 570◦ Know the contributions of Maslow, and Rogers (“the self”)

#3 Trait beginning pg. 574 (including factor analysis) #4 Biological beginning pg. 576 #5 Situational beginning pg. 580 #6 Social-Cognitive beginning pg. 583

◦ Know the contribution of Albert Bandura ◦ Reciprocal Determinism (Influences)◦ Personal Control, Internal vs External Locus of Control

#1 Freud’s Levels of AwarenessGrew out of Freud’s decades of interactions with

his clients. This theory focuses on the influence of

◦ early childhood experiences ◦ unconscious motives and conflicts◦ the methods people use to cope with sexual and

aggressive urges◦Levels of awareness- THIS WAS THE BIG DISCOVERY!

Conscious: whatever one is aware of Preconscious: material just beneath the surface of awareness that can easily be retrieved EX. Your middle name, what you ate for dinner last night, etc. Unconscious: thoughts, memories, and desires well below the surface of the conscious that greatly impact behavior

#1 Psychodynamic Perspectives: We Begin with Freud

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory◦ Structure of personality

Id - Pleasure principle. Lives in unconscious.

Ego - Reality principle (delays the id’s urge for gratification until an appropriate outlet can be found). Lives in all levels on consciousness.

Superego – Morality principle. Lives in pre-conscious and conscious.

#1 Psychodynamic Perspectives: We Begin with Freud

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory◦ Internal Conflict Among the Id, Ego, and Superego

ID: Sex and Aggression- two impulses controlled by the id

EGO: Anxiety- (1) fear that the id will get out of control (2) fear that superego will get out of control and make you feel guilty about real or imagined transgressions

SUPEREGO: Defense Mechanisms- a technique used to satisfy the superego and control the id; unconscious reactions that protect a person from anxiety and guilt

EX. Defense Mechanisms are rationalization, repression, projection, displacement, etc.

IdEgo Superego

Defense Mechanism Description Example

Denial

Declaring or thinking whatever is true is false. Refusal to accept reality, external facts, events, implications bc nature of the reality threatens individual. Emotional conflicts resolved by refusal to acknowledge unpleasant external realities.

Alcoholic who refuses to believe his drinking makes an impact on his job performance or family life

Displacement

Aggression or even sexual impulses redirected to a more acceptable party. Emotion pointed to safer outlet. Separation of emotion from its real object. Emotion dissuaded to object, party that brings less risk.

Mother may yell at child when she feels angry at husband. In this case she displaces her anger toward child bc child appears to be a more acceptable target; less threatening, less risk in outcome.

Projection

Attributing one’s own unacknowledged unacceptable/unwanted thoughts and emotions to another. Reduces anxiety, allows expression of undesirable impulse or desire without conscious awareness.

Assuming that someone you extremely dislike extremely dislikes you. Severe prejudice, severe jealousy, hyper vigilance to external danger, and “injustice collecting”.

Rationalization

Creating false but credible justifications. Convincing oneself no wrong was done or all is or was all right through faulty/false reasoning. Indicator of this defense mechanism can be seen socially as the formulation of convenient excuses.

You are turned down by someone you are interested in, and rationalize that you were not that attracted to them. Protects self-esteem.

Regression Reverting to coping at an earlier stage of development. Adult throwing a temper tantrum

Repression

Pulling thoughts into unconscious, preventing painful or dangerous thoughts from entering consciousness; seemingly unexplainable naivety, memory lapse or lack of awareness of one’s own situation and condition. Emotion is conscious, idea behind it absent. Pushing uncomfortable thoughts into the subconscious.

Individual abused as a child represses feelings and memories, so that feelings and memories no longer remain in the conscious memory. The abuse continues to affect the individual’s behavior in relationships.

#1 A Focus on Defense Mechanisms

Focus on defense mechanisms. Take 3 of these defense mechanisms and verbally describe a situation in a book or movie wherein a character uses them:

Repression: Regression: Displacement: Reaction Formation: Projection: Denial: Rationalization: Sublimation: Identification: Fixation:

Movie and Book Suggestions:

Emperor’s New Groove Monsters, Inc. The Soloist The Blind Side Harry Potter Series

The Kite Runner Into Thin Air Night The Odyssey Oedipus Antigone Hamlet

#1 Carl Jung’s Personality Theory: Another Neofreudian

Freud wouldn't accept any variations on his personality theory.

Carl Jung: Analytical Psychology: the unconscious mind is composed of two layers Personal and collective unconscious: personal unconscious: houses material that is not within one’s

conscious awareness because it has been repressed or forgotten

collective unconscious: houses latent memory traces inherited from people’s ancestral past.

Archetypes: emotionally charged images and thought forms that have universal meaning. EX: symbols in dreams, culture, and religions like the circle

Other of Jung’s Ideas Introversion/Extroversion Jung was the first to describe the introverted (inner-directed)

and extraverted (outer-directed) personality types.

#1 Alfred Adler’s Personality Theory: Another Neofreudian

Some psychologists thought that Freud had gone overboard with his focus on sexual conflict. Ya think?

Alfred Adler: Individual Psychology Striving for superiority, not sex, is the foremost

source of human motivation. Compensation is feeling inferior and striving to

overcome this feeling of inadequacy. Inferiority complex/overcompensation results when

feelings are excessive and people try to cover them up. People seek power, the appearance of wealth, and brag for this reason. These phenomenon begin in early childhood.

Birth order is also a factor that governs personality.◦ First-borns: rebellious◦ Only children: spoiled

#1 Karen Horney: Another NeofreudianWorked closely with Adler. Childhood social, not

sexual, tensions govern personality formation.Anxiety caused by a child’s helplessness, which

triggers desire for love and security.Many females are born in male-dominated

societies wherein they may be limited or oppressed due to their sex.

This experience leads many women to develop a masculinity complex, originating from feelings of inferiority, as well as frustration at the disparity between sexes.

Horney believed that a girl child’s familial interactions also played a role in how strongly the complex would manifest itself; if a female is intimidated by her own mother or disappointed by her father or brother, she may develop a disdain for the female sex - herself included

#1 Evaluating Psychodynamic Perspectives

Pros- Groundbreaking insights on◦The unconscious◦The role of internal conflict◦The importance of early childhood

experiencesCons

◦Poor testability◦Inadequate empirical base◦Sexist views (male-centered)

#2 Humanistic Perspective: Divide your paper into three columns.

Column #1: Key People and Terms:1. Carl Rogers 2. self-concept 3. unconditional

regard4. congruence

5. Abraham Maslow

6. hierarchy of needs

7. Self-actualization

Column #2: Descriptions of Key People and Terms

Column #3: Examples and drawings

#2 Humanistic Perspectives on Personality

• Humanism emerged in the 1950’s as a backlash against the dehumanizing views of psychoanalysts and behaviorists.

• Humanism emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth.

#2 Humanistic Perspectives on Personality

• Carl Rogers• Person Centered Theory

• Self-concept (or “Self”)= a person’s overall view of him/herself • Self-concept is subjective, so it doesn’t necessarily represent reality

• Conditional/unconditional positive regard from parents• Conditional regard causes incongruence (disparity between self-concept and

reality)• Unconditional regard causes congruence (person’s self-concept representative

of reality)• Incongruence produces anxiety at the discrepancy between their actual and ideal

selves, so people often lie, willfully misunderstand, or reinterpret reality to conform to their self-concept.

Figure 12.9 Rogers’s view of personality structure

Figure 12.10 Rogers’s view of personality development and dynamics

#2 Abraham Maslow:Another Humanist

• Self-actualization theory: people have an innate drive toward personal growth, and self-actualization is the highest level

• Hierarchy of needs: human needs are prioritized into a hierarchy; most basic needs at the bottom, more abstract needs near the top.

• “The healthy personality” exists in self-actualizing people who are continually growing personally

Figure 12.11 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

“What a man can be, he must be.”-Maslow

Figure 12.12 Maslow’s view of the healthy personality

#2 Evaluating Humanistic Perspectives

• Pros• highlight the importance of a person’s subjective

view of reality• focus attention on the issue of what constitutes a

healthy personality• Cons• lacking a strong research base and have poor

testability• an overly optimistic view of human nature (Maslow

had a hard time finding live people who had self-actualized).

#3 Trait Psychology: The Advent of Modern Personality Testing

Trait: a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports.

Gordon Allport: 1919; was the first to define personality in terms of identifiable behavioral patterns, or traits. Less concerned (unlike Freud) with explaining them and more concerned with describing them

Kathleen Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers: 1987; wanted to describe important personality differences. Sorted people into Jung’s personality types based on their responses to 126 questions. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is still taken today on a scale of millions of people per year for counseling, leadership training, and work-team development.

#3 Trait Ctd. Factor Analysis: a statistical

procedure that has been used to identify clusters of test items that tap basic components of intelligence (such as spatial ability or verbal skill)

Also applied to personality testing. Example: People who describe

themselves as outgoing also tend to say that they like excitement and practical jokes and dislike quiet reading. This is a statically correlated cluster of behaviors that reflects a basic factor, or trait, called extraversion Developed by Hans and

Sybil Eysenck in 1963. Two dimensions of personality are the introverted-extraverted scale and the stable-unstable axis.

#4 Biological PerspectivesIt started with Eysenck . . .

• Eysenck’s theory

• Traits (study of traits=factor analysis)

• Role of Genes

• Temperament (inborn tendencies toward personality) can be characterized along three genetically-determined dimensions.

• Competes with and correlates to Costa’s and McCrea’s Big 5.

• 3 higher order traits• Extraversion-introversion, neuroticism,

and psychoticism

• Believes that genes influence nervous system reactivity, thereby influencing ease of acquiring conditioned responses such as “reacting.”

#4 Hans Eysenck Ctd. (Note: these traits don’t mean that the person

who possesses them is “neurotic,” etc., only that they have such tendencies)

extraversion-introversion (1947)

neuroticism (1947)

psychoticism (1970’s)

Tendencies We Inherit• Extraversion (sociable, assertive, active, lively),

neuroticism (anxious, tense, moody, low self-esteem), and psychoticism (egocentric, impulsive, cold, antisocial).

• Extroverted people have an under-reactive nervous systems, so they can blow things off easily and have a low degree of conditionability.

• Introverts have an over-reactive nervous systems, so they intensely notice and scrutinize situations. They have a high degree of conditionability.

• People with neurotic traits have nervous systems that cause emotional over-reactions to mildly fearful stimuli.

• People with psychotic traits have less-reactive systems that produce recklessness, a disregard for common sense or conventions, and a degree of inappropriate emotional expression . Correlates with the Big 5’s conscientiousness and agreeableness

#4 Biological Perspectives Ctd.

• Twin studies

• More recent research

• Identical twins raised apart were more similar than fraternal twins raised together, with heritability estimates in the vicinity of 40%.

• Shared family environment does not lead to similar personality characteristics among siblings, leading some theorists to assert that parents matter very little in how their children develop.

• Olson, 2005: Brain scans of extroverts• Wacker, 2006: Dopamine-related activity higher

in extroverts and frontal lobe activity lower.• Jones and Grosling, 2003-2005: Even dog

personalities are stable, indicating they have a genetic basis!

#4 Biological Perspectives Ctd.

• The evolutionary approach

• Evolutionary analyses of personality suggest that certain traits and the ability to recognize them may contribute to reproductive fitness…a reproductive advantage. i.e. certain personality traits lead to survival

Figure 12.14 Twin studies of personality

#4 Evaluating Biological Perspectives

• Pros

• Cons

Convincing evidence for genetic influence

• Heritability estimates vary depending on sampling procedures and other considerations, and should only be used as ballpark figures.

• The results of efforts to carve behavior into genetic and environmental components are artificial, as they interact in complicated ways.

• No comprehensive biological theory

#5 Situation vs TraitMischel’s views

◦The person-situation controversy An advocate of social learning theory Focus on the extent to which situational factors

govern behavior, instead of person variables.

Key People and Concepts

B.F. Skinner and personality (Weiten, 490-491)1. Personality Structure and

determinism2. Personality and

Conditioning Albert Bandura’s Social

Cognitive Theory3. Cognitive Processes4. Reciprocal Determinism5. Observational Learning6. Self-Efficacy (Weiten, 494)

7. Julian Rotter’s internal vs external locus of control

8. Self-esteem and self-serving bias

Instructions• Step #1: You will be assigned

a term. • Step #2: Study the term.• Step #3: Write a 3 sentence

summary that captures the ideas and concepts of what you studied.

• Step #4: Then prepare to act out a situation in which the term would be applicable.

#6 Social-Cognitive Perspectives: Behaviorists, Cognitionists and Social Psychologists. Myers Module 47

#6 Follow Up QuestionsHow stable is personality

according to the behaviorists, cognitionists, and social psychologists?

Do we have a say in our personality according to Skinner, Bandura, Mischel, and Rotter? Explain.

How do we gain our personalities?

#6 Behavioral PerspectivesSkinner’s views

◦Conditioning and response tendencies

◦ Personality is learned through conditioning. ◦ Little interest in unobservable cognitive

processes ◦Environmental determinism

Determinism: behavior is fully determined by environmental stimuli, and free will is an illusion.

Personality is based in response tendencies; acquired through learning over the course of the lifespan.

#6 Behavioral Perspectives Ctd.Bandura’s views

◦Social leaning theory Cognitive processes and reciprocal

determinism cognitive factors such as expectancies

regulate learning. His concept of reciprocal determinism is the idea that internal mental events, external environmental events, and overt behavior all influence one another.

Observational learning behavior is shaped by exposure to

models, or a person whose behavior they observe.

Models

Figure 12.7 Bandura’s reciprocal conditioning

#6 Bandura’s Views Ctd. Self-efficacy self-efficacy: one’s belief about

one’s ability to perform behaviors that should lead to expected outcomes.

Self-efficacy (or lack thereof) influences which challenges people tackle and how well they perform.

Researchers believe that self-efficacy is fostered by parents who are stimulating and responsive to their children.

Figure 12.5 A behavioral view of personality

Figure 12.6 Personality development and operant conditioning

#6 Julian Rotter’s Loci of ControlYour personality depends upon your

perception of control over your environment.

Personal control: the extent to which people perceive control over their environment rather than feeling helpless.

External locus of control: the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your perosnl control determine your fate.

Internal locus of control: the perception that you control your own fate.

Learned helplessness: the passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events (remember Seligman’s dogs with the harnesses?)

Put it together and what do you get?

PERSONALITY

Personality Evaluation Techniques:

Instructions: Use the Internet to answer the following questions in your spiral about the three following widely-used personality assessments:

1. What was this test created to measure?2. What kinds of traits does this test measure?3. What kind of scale or other measuring options does this

test used?4. What are criticisms or disadvantages you can think of for

this test?

Myers-Briggs http://www.myersbriggs.org/◦ Start by clicking on “My MBTI Personality Type and then on “MBTI Basics.”

Then explore the site and even go beyond it to find the answers to the other questions.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory [MMPI] http://psychcentral.com/lib/2011/minnesota-multiphasic-personality-inventory-mmpi/

The Thematic Apperception Test [TAT])◦ http://www.cps.nova.edu/~cpphelp/TAT.html◦ http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=8216&cn=18 ◦ http://projectivetests.umwblogs.org/popular-tests/thematic-apperception-t

est-tat/ for a great student video!

So, testing mental abilities is a theoretically-attractive idea, but what interferes with the objectivity of psychometric tests?

Let’s take a look at intelligence for a moment . . .

(Spiral) The Ify-ness of Testing Mental Abilities

Key Points1. Galton2. Binet and Simon3. Terman4. IQ formula5. Achievement vs Aptitude6. Wechsler Scales7. IQ Stability8. Principles of test construction:

1. Standardization2. Reliability3. Validity

NotesHow has our view of how to test mental abilities changed over time?

The Evolution of Intelligence Testing

• Sir Francis Galton (1869) – Hereditary Genius: proposed that success runs in

families because intelligence is inherited. Based on Darwin• Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon (1905)

– Commissioned by the French government in 1904 to study the problem of children of newcomers to Paris being able to learn from a regular school curriculum. Basis for special-ed.

– Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale: designed to single out youngsters in need of special training and alternate curriculum.

– Mental age: EX. a 4 year-old child with a mental age of 6 performed like the average 6 year-old on the test.

– Binet was eager to help children through the testing, but he feared that the test would be used to label children and limit their opportunities (Gould, 1981)

Verbal1. Rearrange the following letters to make a word and choose the category in which it fits.RAPETEKAA. cityB. fruitC. birdD. vegetable

2. Find the answer that best completes the analogypeople : democracy :: wealthy :A. oligarchyB. oligopolyC. plutocracyD. timocracyE. autocracy

Mathematical/Spatial3. Which number should come next in this series?25,24,22,19,15A. 4B. 5C. 10D. 14

4. Which diagram results from folding the diagram on the left?

The Evolution of Intelligence Testing Binet’s fears were realized soon after his death in

1911, when others adapted his tests for use as a numerical measure of inherited intelligence.

Lewis Terman (1916)◦ Adapted Binet’s tests and re-normed them to test

California school children.◦ Developed the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, which

doesn’t precisely measure IQ but something similar.◦ U.S. Government latched onto this idea and Terman

promoted large-scale intelligence testing that would “ultimately result in curtailing the reproduction of feeble-mindedness and in the elimination of an enormous amount of crime, pauperism, and industrial inefficiency.”

◦ New tests evaluated newly arriving immigrants and World War I army recruits. Only certain % of immigrants from the “dumber countries” aloud to immigrate to U.S.

BUT IT DIDN’T END THERE (NEXT SLIDE)!

German psychologist William Stern derived this formula from these tests:◦Intelligence Quotient (IQ) = MA/CA x 100

– divides a child’s mental (MA) age by chronological age (CA) and multiplying by 100…this made it possible to compare children of different ages.

Modern Tests of Mental Abilities Achievement tests (reflect what you have learned)

vs aptitude tests (predict your ability to learn a new skill. Ex. SAT is a “thinly disguised intelligence test (Garner,

1999). Aptitude intended to predict how well you’ll do in college.

Example of Modern Test David Wechsler (1955)

◦ Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS IV). Also created a version of the test for school-aged children. Aptitude test, mostly, though has components of achievement test.

– Doesn’t only yield a general intelligence score (like Stanford-Binet), but separate scores for verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory, and processing speed.

– give more emphasis to nonverbal reasoning, yielding a verbal IQ, a performance IQ, and a full-scale IQ.

– devised a new scoring system based on the normal distribution…the deviation IQ. This scoring system is outlined on the next slide.

WAIS: Began development in the 30’s and surpassed Alfred-Binet test by the 60’s.

Are IQ Test Scores Stable Over a Lifetime?

Yes and no. IQ scores are more likely to vary during critical developmental

periods when a child is young. As a child grows older, IQ test scores begin to stabilize (Bloom,

1964). The pivotal age: 7

EX. Carla◦ Age 2: 120◦ Age 4: 110◦ Age 7: 115◦ Age 10: 115◦ Age 14: 115

Principles of Test Construction1. Standardization: the uniform procedures used in the administration

and scoring of a test.Test norms: provide information about where a score on a

psychological test ranks in relation to other scores on that test…allows a psychologist to determine how a person scores relative to other people.

Standardization group: the sample of people that the norms are based on.

EX: PSAT results. What did they show you?EX: What about DBA? Is it standardized? Lets look at your class on Data

Director!

2. Validity: the test measures what it is supposed to measure.

**Are what you want to measure and the questions/tasks you put on the test correlated? EX: Would you use handwriting analysis to gauge a persons intelligence?

Content validity: Does a test cover a representative sample of the content taught? Non-statistical. EX. Does the SBA actually cover what we learned in class?

Construct validity: Does the test actually measure the psychological theory being studied. Statistics are used to evaluate. EX: Does an IQ test really measure “intelligence?”

Predictive validity: Does the test predict accurately the future result that it was designed to predict, such as a person succeeding in a specific arena? i.e. aptitude test

3. Reliability: consistency**Can the test results be

reproduced? EX: You scored a 26 on the ACT. You take it again and score a 27. Were the results about the same?

(Spiral) Famous Studies on Intelligence Testing

You have 35 minutes. Get stamped when done.Studies 13 (“What You Expect is What You Get”)

and -14 (“Just How Are You Intelligent?”)For each “Famous Study,” students should

◦(1) read the study completely, ◦(2) outline each subcategory of each article

introduction, theoretical prop., method, results, discussion, sig. of findings/criticisms